EPA employees smarting under the social media gag order of President Trump and upset by last week’s appointment of Scott Pruitt as Administrator are going online — in droves — to voice their discontent. Numerous “alternative” Twitter accounts are lighting up in advance of a meeting between Pruitt and staffers scheduled for Tuesday.
Below are excerpts from a multi-part post from @altEPASmrtGrwth, an alternative Twitter account for the EPA’s Smart Growth program:
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Join us next week in NYC to engage with top executive leaders, delving into strategies for auditing AI models to ensure fairness, optimal performance, and ethical compliance across diverse organizations. Secure your attendance for this exclusive invite-only event.
Other alternative accounts from EPA workers and their offices include:
100% EPA staff. They gagged us, FOIA’d our personal texts, and yet
#WePersisted. Agency staff welcome to connect with us via DM.#altEPA
The Unofficial “Resistance” team of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Not taxpayer subsidized! Environmental conditions may vary from alternative facts.
Doing Science in the dark with our hands tied, since 2017. Opinions our own; Facts belong to everyone.
Last month, the Trump Administration prohibited the EPA and its offices from using social media — an effort to block communications on such environmental issues as climate change and water and air quality, and to prevent the issuance of public safety information. The gag order also extended to other federal agencies, and affected workers rebelled and created numerous alternative Twitter accounts.
From January 19 until February 17, @EPA, the EPA’s main Twitter account, went dark and only came back to life to welcome its new administrator:
We’d like to congratulate Mr. Pruitt on his confirmation! We look forward to welcoming him to EPA.
— U.S. EPA (@EPA) February 17, 2017
The congratulatory statement was followed by subsequent adoring posts which, when compared to the online discontent voiced by some of EPA’s 15,000 employees, seem to be lifted from a propagandist’s playbook:
Administrator Pruitt is dedicated to creating policies that serve the American people. Learn more about him: https://t.co/Gie2nOWnEl pic.twitter.com/EsXI66WedO
— U.S. EPA (@EPA) February 17, 2017
American leaders & job creators cheered @EPAScottPruitt's confirmation. Here's what they're saying: https://t.co/crobfMnD7x
— U.S. EPA (@EPA) February 18, 2017
Moreover, according to a source familiar with the matter, EPA offices with Twitter accounts were instructed to retweet these posts and were told “If no RT, they will be noticed.”
Yesterday, February 18, in what can be viewed as solidarity with the EPA’s embattled rank and file, the ACLU took to Twitter to advise federal employees of their free speech rights:
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: Federal employees and the First Amendment. pic.twitter.com/evxbKH4kIz
— ACLU (@ACLU) February 18, 2017
On Tuesday, February 21, Pruitt will meet with his staff in the Rachel Carson Green Room at the EPA’s offices. Pruitt is expected to present his vision for the EPA, but his employees will be watching to learn whether he plans to gut the agency’s budget and lay off perhaps two-thirds of its workforce. A livestream of the event will be available here.
